07:38 AM EDT, 05/02/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity futures were pointing higher on Friday amid growing optimism over the beginning of trade talks between the White House and China, while investors await the national employment situation report for April.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% each in premarket activity, while the Nasdaq added 0.3%. The indexes finished the previous trading session higher, with the S&P 500 and the Dow recording gains for the eighth consecutive day.

China is currently evaluating proposals from the US to begin negotiations on tariffs, a spokesperson for the Chinese ministry of commerce said in a statement on Friday.

China's "door is open" for talks, but the US must demonstrate "sincerity" in negotiations, according to the spokesperson.

The nonfarm payrolls report for last month is scheduled for an 8:30 am ET release. Government data is expected to show that the US economy added 135,000 nonfarm jobs in April, which would mark a drop from the 228,000 gain posted for March, according to a Bloomberg poll.

Weekly applications for unemployment insurance reached the highest level in about two months, while continuing claims were at a multiyear high, government data showed Thursday. Job cuts totaled 105,441 last month in the world's largest economy, up 63% year on year and the highest tally for April since 2020, according to a separate report released by Challenger Gray & Christmas on Thursday.

Shares of Apple ( AAPL ) were down 3.1% pre-bell as Chief Executive Tim Cook said the iPhone maker expects $900 million in costs in the current quarter due to tariffs. Amazon.com ( AMZN ) was down 1.7% following its quarterly results. Social media platform Reddit ( RDDT ) gained 5.6% on better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Oil giants Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) and Chevron ( CVX ) are scheduled to release their latest financial results before the bell, along with Cigna ( CI ) , DuPont de Nemours ( DD ) , T. Rowe Price ( TROW ) and Magna International ( MGA ) .

West Texas Intermediate crude oil decreased 0.6% to $58.86 a barrel in premarket action. The weekly Baker Hughes domestic oil-and-gas rig count posts at 1 pm.

US Treasury yields were down before the opening bell, with the two-year rate slipping 0.5 basis points to nearly 3.7%, while the 10-year rate retreated 2.3 basis points to 4.21%.

Gold gained 1.5% to $3,269 per troy ounce. Bitcoin edged 0.3% higher to $96,910.